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🇺🇸Donald Trump's new Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick: "My view is Bitcoin, like gold, should be free to trade everywhere in the world."

Michael Saylor’s Strategy is going all in—again. The company announced on Tuesday that it is raising $2 billion in 0% convertible senior notes to buy more Bitcoin, betting even bigger on the long-term value of its holdings. The debt offering, open only to qualified institutional buyers, includes an option to raise an extra $300 million if demand is high. The notes mature in 2030, won’t pay interest, and won’t increase in value over time, according to Strategy’s announcement. Investors can convert them into cash or shares of Strategy’s stock, depending on what the company decides. The notes are redeemable starting in 2027, but only if Strategy’s stock price surpasses 130% of the conversion price for a set period. If that happens, Strategy can buy back the notes at face value plus any special interest owed, per the announcement. If Strategy faces a fundamental change, such as a major acquisition or restructuring, investors can demand repayment on March 1, 2028. The conversion rate and final terms will be determined at pricing, based on Strategy’s stock performance on the day the deal is finalized. Bitcoin acquisition and debt strategy Strategy has been using debt to buy Bitcoin for years, and this latest one actually follows a pattern: raise cash, buy Bitcoin, and wait for the price to rise. The company plans to use the $2 billion for general corporate expenses, but its real focus is accumulating more Bitcoin. In 2024, Strategy bought 258,320 BTC for $22.07 billion, paying an average of $85,447 per Bitcoin, including fees. The company didn’t sell a single Bitcoin, despite price fluctuations. As of December 31, 2024, Strategy held 447,470 BTC, valued at $23.9 billion. But its outstanding debt hit $7.27 billion, with $35.1 million in annual interest costs. The company posted a net loss for 2024, mostly due to $1.79 billion in Bitcoin impairment losses. If Bitcoin’s market price crashes, Strategy’s ability to meet financial obligations could be at risk. The company warned in a 10-K SEC filing that it “may not be able to regain profitability” if Bitcoin’s fair value continues to drop. Strategy has been dealing with old accounting rules that force companies to write down Bitcoin losses, but never adjust gains unless sold. That changes in January 2025 with new FASB fair-value accounting rules. Gains and losses will now be recorded in net income each quarter, creating massive fluctuations in reported profits. The new rules will immediately apply a $12.75 billion adjustment to Strategy’s retained earnings. But there’s a catch: tax liabilities could surge. The company warned that unrealized Bitcoin gains might trigger the 15% Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (CAMT) under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. “If we become subject to the CAMT, it could result in a material tax obligation that we would need to satisfy in cash,” Strategy said. The tax applies to companies with over $1 billion in annual adjusted financial income, and unless the law is amended, Strategy could owe huge taxes by 2026. The company also faces tax risks across multiple jurisdictions, with uncertainty around deferred tax assets and liabilities, as selling Bitcoin at higher prices than its cost basis will likely trigger some serious capital gains taxes. Strategy’s debt offering is private—only qualified institutional buyers under Rule 144A can participate. The notes won’t be registered with the SEC and can’t be publicly sold without an exemption. Investors interested in the deal must attend a live webinar on February 19, 2025, where the company will go over terms, risks, and expectations. “Access to the Video Webinar and completion of the investor survey does not mean you will receive an allocation in this proposed convertible notes offering,” Strategy clarified today. Cryptopolitan Academy: How to Write a Web3 Resume That Lands Interviews - FREE Cheat Sheet

Meow, founder of Jupiter and co-founder of Meteora, revealed that neither Jupiter nor Meteora committed insider trading or financial malpractice. Jupiter also hired the Fenwick & West law firm to investigate and report on any issues in the company. Meow maintained that he stood by Ben Chow, the project’s previous lead, and his statement about the company. The company’s founder said that he believed Ben when he said there was no financial inappropriateness in dealing with partners. Jupiter distances itself from insider trading allegations It’s all unravelling so quickly. In the past hour we found out that Jupiter owner Meow is the real owner of Meteora. Ben lied about having no involvement with Libra and other Kelsier launches and was fired from Meteora. Gotta imagine Solana and its execs knew this the whole time. pic.twitter.com/n5F8IC5H3W — Beanie (@beaniemaxi) February 18, 2025 Meow, the founder of Jupiter, refuted claims that the company was involved in insider trading or financial malpractices. The firm also said that it did not receive any tokens inappropriately. Jupiter also revealed it hired Fenwick & West to investigate the cases of insider trading and financial misconduct in the company. The 3rd party law firm will also issue a report on the investigation, which they will publish independently. Jupiter also disclosed that Meteora had been operating as a separate entity from Jupiter for over a year and Ben had been running it without his involvement. Meteora’s co-founder added that Ben had done a great job building up the company’s team. He also said that Ben built the most innovative DEX in the past year and the most active LP community in the world. Meow shared that Ben, as the project’s lead, had shown a lack of judgement and care about some of the core aspects of the project over the past couple of months. He said it was unacceptable and that Ben had chosen to resign. Meow revealed that Meteora was looking for new leadership moving forward. Jupiter’s founder acknowledged that Ben had been an extremely helpful and kind participant in the ecosystem for a while. He urged everyone not to jump to conclusions and be as kind to Ben as possible as he seeks to clear his name. Jupiter claims to be the gold standard in token transparency Jupiter said that JUP has been the gold standard when it comes to token transparency and token integrity was key from day one. The company also revealed they were the only major protocol to ever account for every token over the course of 3 audits. The firm also added that they have never sold tokens OTC and that every major token use was carefully documented and planned in their audits. Meow also believes that Jupiter is one of the most non-extractive players in the ecosystem. He said that the company had allowed users to swap tens of billions for free. Jupiter also allowed their partners to make hundreds of millions of dollars in fees with minimal take on their end. The firm confirmed that their perpetual fees were transparently documented and reported over the last year along with the two best audit partners in the space. It’s also the first time they charged users for swaps at 0.05%-0.1% in their recent Ultra Mode, which the firm said is 10x-20x lower than other main platforms. The protocol also maintained that the vast majority of fees are kept on Solana and invested in jupSOL/JLP. The fees stay in the system other than the amounts used to fund talent acquisition and operating expenses. “On my end, I have not sold a single JUP, nor do I regularly trade memecoins. I have been offered free tokens many times for marketing, and I’ve always rejected every single one. I diamond hand most of the tokens that I received from investment / advisory in the past prior to Jupiter.” – Meow, founder of Jupiter and co-founder of Meteora. Meow apologized that they had not held other projects to the same standard as the high standards for token integrity at Jupiter. He also maintained that the way to grow the industry is not simply via more tokens, but through projects that have the same level of token certainty. Meow also believes that the industry will grow through long-term alignment and extreme transparency like they practiced with JUP. The firm’s founder disclosed that his main goals will be to create permissionless products, operating systems, and ethical standards. He believes his goals can form the new foundation of crypto in the future. Meow said he wants to make Jupiter the best decentralized platform and build Jupnet as the network to connect everything. He also hopes to take the lessons from the accusations and the robust systems they have built for JUP to define the next major phase in their industry. Cryptopolitan Academy: Are You Making These Web3 Resume Mistakes? - Find Out Here

Former Goldman Sachs executive Raoul Pal says that Bitcoin and other top altcoins are in the midst of the “greatest macro trade of all time.” “All the wiggles and the timeline FUD are just noise,” Pal said in a Feb. 17 thread on X. “All you require to capture it is not be too far out on the risk curve, not using leverage and the ability to have patience and zoom out.” The former Goldman Sachs executive also shared a screenshot of Bitcoin’s weekly chart that showed the largest crypto by market cap hovering above a trendline at the $60K level. This trendline is around BTC’s previous all-time high before it managed to break the $100K mark. In the X thread, he also said that it’s “sad to see so many bearish and nervous in crypto” with Bitcoin’s current bullish technical structure on its weekly chart. Pal also posted the weekly charts for altcoin leader Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL) and Sui (SUI), saying that these smaller cryptos also present huge opportunities for investors. With Pal super bullish on Bitcoin, is new Bitcoin meme coin BTC Bull Token (BTCBULL) the next big crypto? The project aims to become the unstoppable force that pushes the market leader to $1 million per coin and beyond, rewarding loyal holders along the way with Bitcoin airdrops and BTCBULL token burns. These events will be triggered as BTC achieves new price milestones. Token holders will receive free BTC through airdrops when Bitcoin’s price hits $150K, $200K and $250K. Meanwhile, BTC Bull token burns will happen when Bitcoin reaches $125K, $175K and $225K for the first time. 99Bitcoins, a prominent YouTube channel that boasts over 725K subscribers, says BTCBULL could potentially soar 10X when it lists. The project has already raised over $2.1 million in its presale and it’s only a fraction over one week since it launched. So hot is $BTCBULL that the leading non-custodial Web3 wallet Best Wallet has added it to its Upcoming Tokens section. The section flags to Best Wallet customers what are deemed to be the hottest presales in the market. It has established a great track record, recommending to customers meme coins including Catslap ($SLAP) and Pepe Unchained ($PEPU), which soared 7,000% and 700%, respectively, after launch.

Charles Hoskinson, the founder of Cardano and IOG, has suggested using Cardano as an audit layer for the U.S. Treasury’s $7 trillion budget. Speaking during a recent interview with Financial Fox, Hoskinson discussed the potential of blockchain to enhance transparency and accountability in government spending. “It’s difficult for Musk to unilaterally make this decision, so a lot of people have high hopes,” Hoskinson told host Stefania Barbaglio. “They say, ‘Oh, maybe Musk will pick Ethereum, Bitcoin, or Cardano as the audit layer.’ But this is ultimately a government procurement decision.” Given the sheer scale of federal expenditures, spanning 200 agencies, commissions, and subgroups, Hoskinson stressed that traditional oversight mechanisms are insufficient. “At the end of the day, with a $7 trillion budget and billions of transactions, no single person can analyze all of it. It would take a lifetime to review. But if structured correctly, auditable, transparent, and enhanced with AI, you can trust the data and take informed action.” Notably, according to sources, under the Biden administration, much of the federal spending was marked by inefficiencies, with funds misdirected to various agencies. In 2024 alone, the U.S. government spent $6.75 trillion, exceeding its revenue and leading to a growing deficit, as per the Fiscal Data website. To address these issues, the Department of Government Expenditures (DOGE), established by Elon Musk, under president Trump’s order has been auditing these expenditures to uncover and rectify the waste. Hoskinson also underscored the importance of privacy in the evolving crypto landscape, particularly with the development of Midnight, Cardano’s privacy-focused sidechain. According to the businessman, for major applications such as government auditing, combining Bitcoin as a secure, value-carrying layer with Cardano and Midnight would create a unified, robust development stack. The pundit’s latest comments come after his January 2025 proposal to offer Cardano’s blockchain infrastructure for free to DOGE. “I’m thinking this is a job for a triumvirate of Cardano, Bitcoin, and Midnight. Yo, Dogemaster Elon Musk, give us a call. We’ll do it for free” he had tweeted. However, while DOGE has yet to announce any collaborations with blockchain firms, on February 17, it issued a call for help from the public, asking for insights on reducing waste, fraud, and abuse. The organization encouraged individuals to send helpful ideas to the relevant DOGE affiliates listed on their site. That said, Hoskinson’s proposal aligns with a broader industry push to integrate blockchain into government operations. Other major players, including Coinbase, Algorand Foundation, and Elliptic, have advocated for similar solutions.